VMware: Virtualization Is All About Automation

Now that most IT organizations are well into the next phase of virtualization adoption, many of them are discovering that deploying virtual machine software successfully is one thing, managing them is quite another.

Unfurled today at the VMworld Europe 2011 conference, Rob Smoot, VMware director of product marketing for vCenter management products, says this version of vCenter Operations makes it easier for IT organizations to converge the management of multiple IT functions in real time, thereby not only increasing the agility of the IT organization, but also significantly reducing the total cost of labor.

VMware vFabric Application Management and VMware IT Business Management suites, which are based on products that VMware gained access to with the acquisitions of Integrien and Digital Fuel, respectively, extend that mission into both applications arenas and IT financial management, adds Smoot.

Smoot says that VMware's goal is to automate almost everything in sight as part of an overall effort to bring a much higher degree of efficiency to enterprise IT. That means, says Smoot, making it routinely possible for a single IT administrator to manage hundreds, or even thousands of virtual machines in a way that allows IT to think more about adding value to the business rather than worry about whether a particular virtual machine is configured correctly. That may scare some IT folks, but the reality of the situation is that there really is no standing in the way of progress.

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Business-ready clouds need great management. And as we have seen in recent weeks, business needs great management. Not everyone is cut out for it, has that special something in the DNA. We watched one pass and another one crash and burn recently.

And your Cloud should be no different. And while some people and tools are great at management, others, well it is not as simple as just saying 'management'. And when was the last time an infrastructure vendor provided great management?

Great management requires a tops-down business focus (not a bottoms-up infrastructure view), an integrated lifecycle approach that improves how work gets done (instead of perpetuating silos), experience across architecture design and processes (not only technology), trust and platform independence (no bias or self-interest)and a commitment to heterogeneity (not lock-in).

The Doctor gets nervous when he hears the word 'bundle'--code name 'Suite'. What we have to do is look under the hood and see if this is really an integrated, platform approach or marketing.

Real clouds are built on something more tangible, despite the scientific claims that they are built with vapor.

We have been discussing this recently on our blog, would love to hear what you think. Bmc.com/connect